YuGiOh GX: The Sibling Series
by Peach Wookiee
Summary: A series of oneshots exploring the theme of brotherly sisterly love. Story 18: The Ties That Bind. The Group. This is the finale! Read and review!
1. A Sister's Prayer

A Sister's Prayer: Alexis Harper Rhodes

_Greetings again, Yu-Gi-Oh GX fans! In light of my first two GX fictions, which deal with the themes of family, I've decided to write a series of one-shots based on the theme of brotherly love and sisterly love. Some characters I will have in this fiction are only__ children who feel the bond between themselves and their surrogate siblings. For my first two stories in this series, I am using the Rhodes siblings. Warning: I know the dub names best, and I've taken artistic license with their middle names. The first person to correctly guess the connection between Atticus's and Alexis's middle names __(check my fiction, "A Brother's Isolation," for Atticus's middle name should you want to get a jump on the competition) __will get to choose the person in the third fiction of the series__ that I write a sibling one-shot for__. Please use the dub names if you would._

_Disclaimer: Peach doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. _

_Author's note: This fiction takes place in Season 1 when Atticus is still missing._

Alexis Rhodes stood at the entrance to the abandoned Egyptian decorated dorm as she had since she came to Duel Academy. Zane Truesdale knew she did this every night (he was protective of her because he had been Atticus's best friend and the Truesdale and Rhodes children had played and learned together as small children), but she never let him go along with her. As always, she carried a single long-stemmed rose with her. She'd have preferred to leave a yellow rose with a matching ribbon, but Dorothy at the card shack and student store carried red roses for the most part, so the Queen of Obelisk Blue had to make do.

So here she was, as she had been since the start of school. But things had changed since then… _I met Jaden and he found the first piece of Atty since he went missing last year. _Alexis smiled a little, thinking of the boy with the brown eyes and brown hair with a shock of red in it. _It's funny,_ she thought. _I thought my brother was gone forever and then I got kidnapped, but that night led to Jaden finding that picture of Atticus.__ I will find him again, and Jaden's given me hope that I will._ The young girl would've left after this, but something told her to do one more thing.

As she'd been taught at her mother's knee, Alexis clasped her hands together and knelt. She didn't pray too often, but right now, she wanted to…

"Oh, Lord," she said, "wherever my brother is, keep him safe. Thank You for letting me know that he may actually be alive. Whatever he's doing, help him to find his way back to us. Please guide him back when it's time for him to come home. And help us find whoever took him away. Amen."

Alexis stood up, done praying. And as she had done for a few months now, she laid the rose on the ground next to the gate of the dorm. She said the words that had become ritual… "Be at peace, dear brother, wherever you are." She turned to leave when she heard rustling and footsteps near a tree. "Who's there?" she shouted, having been a little nervous since the incident with Titan.

Out of the shadows stepped Jaden Yuki. "Hey, Lex. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," he said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand and looking a little bit nervous. "I mean, ever since what happened… I wanted to make sure you got back to the dorms okay. Is… is that all right?"

Alexis smiled. "Yeah, that's okay. I just like coming out here alone. I think I can hear Atticus if I'm alone here. I keep hoping that he'll walk out the doors when I'm here and I can take him back to the dorms." Alexis couldn't help it on this night, but her eyes smarted. She couldn't turn away in time, and Jaden saw.

"You really miss him… He'll be back, Lex. I know he will. Here, take this," he said, handing her some tissues.

"Thanks, Jaden," she said.

"I heard you pray," he said, "and I think the Man Upstairs will get your brother back."

"How are you so sure about it? It hasn't happened yet…"

"You're Atticus's little sister, and I think God has a soft spot for little sisters."

Alexis knew Jaden was mainly trying to make her feel better, and she knew God didn't work that way, but for some strange reason she took comfort in her friend's words… _Maybe a sister's prayer will bring her brother home…_

_And that ends the first in the Sibling Series. Do I continue? Read and review! Remember my contest too!_


	2. An Overprotective Brother

An Overprotective Brother: Atticus Lee Rhodes

_Hi, GX fans! Congratulations to Sho-Syrus chan who correctly guessed that, combined together, the Rhodes siblings' middle names are that of Harper Lee, the author of "To Kill a Mockingbird." If you haven't already read it, it is a wonderful book. I'm personally on my third paperback copy because I fell in love with it in 9__th__ grade and I read it over and over again. But I digress… The third story in the Sibling Series will star Jaden and Syrus. I'm figuring out the time range. Sho-Syrus chan, I hope you enjoy it when it's finished! _

_This next tale is from the perspective of one Atticus Lee Rhodes, our favorite surfer boy and meddling brother. His heart is in the right place, but his sister probably wants to pound him at times (not just at dueling). _

_Disclaimer: Peach doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. _

"ATTICUS?! WHERE ARE YOU?! IF YOU TELL CHAZZ TO SEND ME ROSES ONE MORE TIME..!"

Oh, great… Mount Alexis just blew its top… Hi, I'm Atticus Rhodes. I guess you're probably wondering why my darling little sister wants to hunt me down. Well, you see… it's a long story…And it starts back when we were little kids.

I was two years old when Alexis was born. I don't remember much about it, but I do know that I was thrilled to have a little sister. There's a picture that my mom keeps in her office at Domino Children's Hospital of me and Alexis. My dad is holding me up to the bassinette and I'm holding Lexi's hand and smiling. Then there's another picture of me trying to help Mom feed Alexis when she's about 6 months old and is switching to formula. And then there's a picture of me, Alexis, my best friend Zane and his little brother, Syrus on the day we started at Kenobi Preschool, when Zane and I were 3 and Alexis and Sy were one.

It wasn't until we were four and two that I started having to protect my sister. It was in the afternoon after naptime when Alexis was playing with a dolly. The doll was a Mystical Elf and every kid in the preschool wanted to play with it. There was this one four-year-old girl who decided that it was her turn with the doll, even though the teacher said every kid got 10 minutes and timed it. Alexis hadn't even had 2 minutes when this other girl went up and pulled the doll away from my sister. Alexis started crying (Miss Kokori hadn't seen anything), and so I decided to take the law into my own hands.

"Just who do you think you are?" I asked the little girl.

"I'm Nicole, and my daddy says I can have whatever I want. And I want the doll."

"Well, my daddy says you earn what you get, and so does my mommy, and I think you're a ugly zombie monster!" I'd just seen some undead Duel Monsters, so I thought it was a good insult. I took the doll back to my sister, and she gave me a big hug for helping her. Of course, Miss Kokori wasn't thrilled that I told that girl she was an ugly zombie monster, so Nicole and I ended up in the naughty seats. But I was glad to have stuck up for my sister.

A few years later, Alexis and I were at Domino's Sacred Heart School and she wasn't so thrilled when I stuck up for her. She hadn't learned about dueling with a duel disk yet and this boy was picking on her. "You don't have a duel disk. Besides, girl duelists SUCK!"

"No, they don't," Alexis said, "Or haven't you heard of Mai Valentine, Vivian Wong and Rebecca Hawkins?"

That boy said something that gentlemen don't say to ladies (that's why I'm not repeating it here), and while I know now that Lexi would've held her own, I didn't know it then. "Hey, pal, lay off my sister!" I punched his lights out and the guy had to apologize to Alexis. But for some reason, she wasn't thrilled. I mean… she really wasn't thrilled. When we got home from school (after I'd been in detention for pounding that guy), Alexis let me have it.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! ATTICUS, I COULD'VE FOUGHT FOR MYSELF!" Then she punched me and gave me a wedgie… not an ordinary wedgie, but… an atomic wedgie. When Mom got home from a long day of surgeries, she had to use her forceps to get my boxers back in the correct position.

"Honey, what did you do?" she asked me.

"I stood up for her, and she got mad…" I explained what had happened, and Mom told me that Alexis might've preferred to fight this battle alone. I didn't really get it… Big brothers are supposed to be protective, right?

Maybe my idea was a little wrong…but I figured I'd better do my duty, even if Alexis didn't appreciate it right away. So I kept an eye out for her, even when I went to Duel Academy Prep School and she stayed at Sacred Heart. But then she came to Duel Academy Prep. She showed me she could stand up for herself in duels and in other matters. And then guys started checking her out. I was determined to protect her, even if it meant choosing her dates. However, she didn't date. All my sweet little sister cared about was dueling. I was relieved at that…and then I went to Duel Academy and I could only keep an eye on her through e-mails, phone calls and plain old snail mail.

But then the year before Alexis was to come to Duel Academy, I disappeared into the Shadow Realm and was turned into a freaky guy. When I finally came back, Alexis was more independent than I remembered. She worried about me, but I still worried about her…which leads us to my current predicament. You see, this kid, Chazz Princeton, is interested in Lexi. I suggested that he duel her to get a date with her. He lost, but I told him not all is lost. So I told him to get a bunch of roses for her. I guess she didn't like them…

"ATTICUS LEE RHODES! COME OUT RIGHT NOW, OR YOU'LL WISH YOU'D STAYED NIGHTSHROUD!!!" She's less than 15 feet away right now, wielding a baseball bat. Oh, I wish my fangirls were here right now… Sorry, I've got to run!

_I tried to make this a little bit funny, but I'm not sure how I did with it. I hope the characters were enough in character.__ I just think Alexis would pound her brother sometimes… Next time… a story starring Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale!_

_Read and review… The cute Duel Monsters are giving you the pleading eyes…_


	3. Do You Want Me for a Brother?

Do You Want Me for a Brother?: Syrus Aidan Truesdale

_Hi, GX fans! __Wow! Six reviews and quite a few story alerts for this set of tales. I guess we all have a common bond in dealing with our siblings. No relationship is completely perfect and I'll tell you it's __interesting when you and your sibling get older. __Well, here it is, story number three for Sho-Syrus chan, starring Syrus Truesdale and Jaden Yuki. _

_Disclaimer: Peach Wookiee doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any other cartoon… If she had control of TV, she'd let cartoons be a lot like they were in the 1980s. Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh GX seem close to the cartoons Peach watched as a kid!_

_Author's Note: This story takes place shortly after the episode where Sy and Jaden face the Paradox brothers…_

--Syrus's POV-- "SYRUS! SY, WHERE ARE YOU? C'MON OUT! IT'S OKAY! WHATEVER'S BOTHERING YOU, MAYBE I CAN HELP!"

I'm hiding in a bush. I hide a lot… Oh, I guess you're wondering who I am and why I'm hiding. My name is Syrus Aidan Truesdale. I'm a first-year student at Duel Academy, and I'm a Slifer Red, which means I'm low in the school hierarchy. Not only that, but I'm small, I have fluffy aqua-blue hair and I wear spectacles. Not glasses; spectacles. I've almost always worn spectacles and so does my mom. I look a lot like her… But my brother Zane looks more like our dad. Zane… he hates me…

Yeah, you heard me right. I'm sure of it. My brother has said he really doesn't want me around. There I was, trying to stay at Duel Academy after Jaden Yuki, Chumley Huffington and I got caught at the abandoned dorm and we had to save Alexis Rhodes from the Shadow Realm. Jaden says it was a fake, but he didn't feel what I felt. It got really cold in the dorm just before Jay got out of that bubble thing. Whatever he says, I think shadow games are real!

Anyway, I'm hiding from Jaden because… I don't want him to hate me, too. Zane always has seemed to hate me or at least wish that he'd gotten a different brother than me. He said, "You don't belong at this school. You should leave." I sometimes wonder if Jaden will think and say the same thing someday. We just won a duel against these weird brothers who rhyme like Dr. Seuss, but Jay was the one that saved our butts. We almost lost, but that was because I'm such a pathetic duelist… I obviously don't think much of myself. But it's true… no matter how hard I try, I'm not good. I'm not like my brother, and I'm not good like Jaden. I'd rather hide out here forever than have him start to hate me… --End Syrus's POV—

Jaden Kiyo Yuki ran toward the bush he was sure his best friend, Syrus was hiding in. Jaden was no brilliant mind when it came to stealth operations (in fact, he could be a klutz if he didn't pay attention), but he knew if he scared Sy, the smaller boy would bolt. So the brown-haired brown-eyed teen boy tiptoed quietly toward the large bush. Sure enough, he saw a small blue-haired figure wearing a red jacket, hunched and obviously hoping to disappear. The big boy quietly climbed into the bush and put his hand on the bluenette's shoulder.

"AAAAAAHHHH! JAY!" Syrus jumped and hit his head on a low-hanging branch. "OW! You scared me!"

"Sorry, Sy, but I didn't want you to keep running from me. What's going on? What's wrong?" Jaden was looking really concerned, but even so, Syrus didn't want to answer at first.

"Nothing," he said at first.

"Doesn't seem like nothing, Sy. C'mon, I've tried hiding things from my dad using that tone and it doesn't work. You can tell me. If you're worried I'll get mad, I won't. I promise."

Sy took a deep breath. "Okay, but I'm going to ask you a question first, Jay… Do you think I'm a good duelist?"

"Yeah, of course I do. You helped me in that duel against Para and Dox and I checked something out about them. Even Yugi couldn't beat them alone. His friend Joey had his back, just like you had mine."

"Well… what if I wasn't a good duelist? Would you still like me for a friend?" Syrus looked up at his friend with imploring childlike gray eyes.

Jaden smiled and answered, "Yeah, Sy. Why would you think I wouldn't?"

"My brother doesn't like me. It's partly because I'm a disgrace as a duelist and because I'm such a runt…" Sy couldn't help it… he started crying. And Jaden decided to give his best friend a hug.

"Sy… man, you know I wouldn't ditch you. Dueling's my life but that doesn't mean that's everything I look for in a buddy. I look for a friend who's loyal and nice. I don't think there's anybody nicer in the Slifer dorms than you, and… I have to tell you, I'd love to have you for a brother, duelist or not."

Syrus took his specs for a moment, wiped his eyes and then the specs and put the specs back on. "You mean it, Jay?"

"Yeah," Jaden answered, hugging the smaller Slifer again. "I never had brothers or sisters growing up and my mom died when I was eight. I wished sometimes I had someone to play with, and I even made up imaginary friends. That was back before I could really see my duel spirits. So… maybe we could be kind of like brothers, if that's okay with you."

"That," Syrus said, "would be great… bro…"

Together the boys got out of the bush. "Let's go get some dinner, bro," Jaden said. "Bastian invited us over to the Ra dorms!"

"All right, bro, let's go," Syrus said smiling, and started to run, Jaden catching up with him…

**THE END**

_Sho-Syrus chan, I hope you liked this one! __I was pleased to write one for you. All right, folks, we've heard from Alexis, Atticus and Syrus. I think maybe the next person I'll do will have a different take on brotherhood as he is an Army brat! I'm feeling a Hasselberry fic coming on and I hope I have it done way before Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day on December 7__th__. Read and review… pretty please? Syrus gives the eyes…_


	4. Steadfast and Loyal

"Steadfast and Loyal": Tyranno Schwarzkopf Hasselberry

_Welcome, fellow GX fans to the fourth one__-__shot in my "Sibling Series." I've focused on brothers and sisters through normal friendship and siblinghood. But this one focuses on a character who knows the bond of friendship but also the brotherly/sisterly__ bond through a s__lightly different set of eyes. This story is dedicated to our fighting men and women, may they come back safely._

_Disclaimer: __Peach does NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! _

_Author's note: This story takes place sometime in the second season._

Howdy! My name is Tyranno Hasselberry and I'm currently stationed at Duel Academy, a really nice school located in the Pacific Ocean. It's not a military school, but my pappy thought I could learn about combat and how to be an officer and a gentleman at this school. My dad is Dean Hasselberry and he is a four-star general in the US Army. So I guess that makes me an Army brat. I also like dinosaurs a lot. I've been on lots of paleontology trips to dig up fossils and one time, a trip almost caused me to lose a limb! To make a long story short, I ended up with a dinosaur bone in my left leg and dinosaur DNA in my blood.

Anyway, I took up dueling and became pretty good at it with my dinosaur deck. But…I didn't really have any friends. It wasn't like in the army my dad served in where the guys were like brothers. Yeah, I know you might see the army as a place where people are trained to be soldiers, and they're trained to kill if they have to. But the army isn't just a place for that. You become really close with people when they train with you, eat chow with you and even fight with you. You become like a family, and you'd do anything to protect them.

I came to Duel Academy a couple of months ago, and at first I thought all of the guys in the Ra barracks would be my fighting comrades. I dueled and beat people, but then, as it always happened, the people I thought would be my fighting brothers left me. And then… I met the Sarge.

Oh, sorry. You don't know who the Sarge is. His name's Jaden Yuki. He's supposedly in the lower-ranking dorms, but he is one heck of a duelist. He also is a great platoon leader. He heard I'd been less than a gentleman and he decided to fight me. But he didn't have any hard feelings; he told me he dueled for fun! And after he won, he shook my hand and I decided to join him at the Slifer Red barracks. And that was where I fought and had fun with my fighting brothers and sister.

Yeah, I have fighting brothers and a fighting sister. My fighting sister is Alexis Rhodes. She used to be in the Obelisk Blue barracks, but got made at General… um, Chancellor Crowler for trying to force her into doing a publicity stunt. So she moved to the Red barracks. She says the chow line here might not be as fancy as at her old barracks, but she says she'd rather be here eating the not-so-great chow than be at Obelisk eating the good chow and being miserable. She's awfully pretty, but I won't try to invade the Sarge's territory, if you know what I mean. I call her Private Lexi, and she doesn't seem to mind. She's a good soldier.

Then there's Private Syrus Truesdale. He's also a good soldier. He doesn't look like it, but he is. A few weeks ago, the Sarge went missing and the little private and I dueled for the honor of being Sergeant Jaden's best friend. I thought I could crush him, but then…I found out the little guy had been out at night looking for Jaden and he also hadn't been eating his chow. I realized that even if I won, I still lost because I hadn't been doing what he did. Sometimes, it's good to surrender.

And then we come to Private Chazz Princeton. Every outfit has a hotshot who acts like he's better than the rest of the unit, and Private Chazz is that hotshot. "I AM THE CHAZZ!" He says it like he owns the academy… He complains about the chow and he even had part of the dorm redone because he didn't like the barracks. There are some days I'd like to send that guy to army boot camp. But the Sarge tells me Chazz has… domestic problems, so I'm willing to cut him some slack.

And then there's the brain of our unit. His name's Bastian Misawa. If we were going into a war zone and needed a guy to calculate how to stop the enemy, Bastian would be our guy. From what Private Truesdale tells me, Bastian writes math problems all over his walls and figures out how to stop his opponents using those equations. He'd sure be an asset to the real army, but I'm glad he's in my platoon!

My fighting brothers and sisters are great, and steadfast and loyal. I'll be glad if I can join the US Army someday, but right now, I couldn't have it better with my fighting brothers and sister. HOO-AH!

_That was a bit unusual, I'll admit. First off, the title comes from the motto of the 4__th__ Infantry Division which is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. Hasselberry sounds like he has a bit of a Texas drawl, so I like to think of him as a Texan. I personally know people who are in the military and have served in Iraq. One friend was wounded there, and he got sent home to his wife (my best friend) and child. As thrilled as he was to go home, he didn't like having to stay at home when his fighting brothers and sisters went back there. _

_I hope you all enjoyed this. Please read and review…_


	5. A Brother's Dream

A Brother's Dream: Charles "Chazz" Xavier Princeton

_Hi, again, GX fans! I'm really enjoying writing this series, and I hope you're enjoying it too. Judging by the reviews, I think you are! Thanks to The Coffee Gladiator, Sho-Syrus chan, Austin Jade, Arisu Tsuranu (who asked for this fic!), syrusfanatic12, Regina Bianca del Azzuro and JillRG for your reviews! This story may be a bit sad. Considering how Chazz's brothers have treated him, it's very hard to see a time when they actually treated him lovingly. So I decided to go back into Chazz's early childhood when he hadn't been really damaged by his brothers yet. I made this a dream of his… You may want Kleenex, people…_

_Disclaimer: Peach Wookiee DOESN'T own Yu-Gi-Oh or Yu-Gi-Oh GX!_

_Author's note: In the dream, Chazz is about 5 years old, and a pretty good artist._

Chazz Princeton had dreams like any other teenage boy. He dreamed of being a great duelist, a great boyfriend and a guy the other guys liked to hang out with. These were dreams of his future; a dream that he continued to dream was one of the past. It would never come true, he knew, but he kept dreaming it…

--The Dream—Little Chazz walked through the huge mansion he shared with his two brothers. He had been working really hard on something for them both. It had taken several long hours of drawing with a pencil, then a pen and then coloring carefully with his markers, but he'd done it. The little raven-haired, gray-eyed boy had heard his brothers say they'd like artwork for their home office, so Chazz had gone to work to make it happen. He knew they were interested in Duel Monsters, so he found pictures of the Blue Eyes White Dragon and the Red Eyes Black Dragon and took them to the art table in his bedroom.

Chazz deliberately and painstakingly copied the pictures of the two powerful dragons, and when he was finished, he put them in two big envelopes. He wrote in childish scrawl the name "Slade" on the envelope with the Blue Eyes White Dragon and "Jagger" on the envelope with the Red Eyes. Then he sealed them and took them down to his brothers' office.

"Slade? Jagger? I have something for you," Chazz said, handing each brother his envelope.

"What's this, Chazz?" Slade asked.

"You guys said you wanted artwork for your office," the small boy said, blushing a little. "I hope you like these…" –End Dream—

In the dream Chazz had, his brothers loved his drawings. In the dream, they didn't pull them from the envelopes and look at them in disgust. In the dream, they didn't rip up the drawings in front of him and tell him to go to his room and do something worthwhile that would live up to the Princeton family name. In his dream, they praised his pictures and had them framed (or at least put them up on the refrigerator). In his dream, Chazz had brothers who loved him.

_Read and review… pretty please?_


	6. Grilled Cheese

Grilled Cheese: Chumley Richard Huffington

_Hi, GX fans! Thanks again for your reviews and interest in this set of stories. Don't worry, Zaniacs! I will have a story centering on him soon. I just haven't quite figured it out yet. Thanks to syrusfanatic12, JillRG, Arisu Tsuranu and The Coffee Gladiator for your reviews! Well, the next person in my "Sibling Series" collection is a character we definitely haven't gotten to know as well. Chumley Huffington (known to the subbers as Hayato Maeda—I checked) is the __classic good-hearted chubby kid who has dreams. Until a certain group of kids comes along, the chubby kid doesn't have a lot of friends, if s/he had any friends at all. Chumley, from what we saw at the beginning of GX, didn't seem to have friends. But Jaden and Syrus fought through Chumley's pain and became his friends. I hope you enjoy this story…_

_Disclaimer: Peach DOESN'T own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! If she did, Chumley would've had more screen time._

_Author's note: This story takes place sometime between Season 1 and Season 2._

It was lunchtime at Industrial Illusions, and Chumley Huffington had just made his favorite grilled cheese sandwich at the company cafeteria's sandwich bar. Being the new guy in the office was a bit difficult for the eighteen-year-old, even though he had great artistic talent. He looked a little bit unusual, even in the blue blazer and white business shirt. He was chubby and bore more than a slight resemblance to a koala. Chumley's looks were genetic; his love of koalas, however, wasn't. His Duel Monsters deck was heavy with koalas and had a couple of other monsters based on other animals from the koala's native land, Australia.

Chumley also was a bit unusual. Every day for lunch, he had to have a grilled cheese sandwich. As a card designer, he needed inspiration, and for some reason, grilled cheese helped. Another thing that helped him was his friends. Chumley sighed. _I miss Duel Academy. This is so not 'licious…_ Chumley knew he was here to work, but he wouldn't mind at least having acquaintances he could talk to here. He'd gotten used to having his friends around him… They were like brothers, and to lose that contact hurt. He stared down at his grilled cheese and cola, not really hungry.

"Chumley boy… How are you today?" A kind voice startled him out of his thoughts. Chumley looked up to see a man with silvery hair, curtained over his left eye, one kind amber brown eye, a boyish smile and a red-orange suit and white ruffled top and skinny bow tie that seemed out of the 1970s.

"Mr. Pegasus!" Chumley greeted his boss, the CEO of Industrial Illusions, Maximillian J. Pegasus. "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't see you."

"It's all right, Chumley boy. Is something bothering you? You seem a little bit upset."

"It's nothing, sir," he said, trying to act like an adult (which is difficult when you haven't been one very long). "I just… am feeling a little bit lonely…"

To his surprise, the boss motioned to his bodyguard, Croquet, to bring his lunch over to where he was sitting with Chumley. "Thanks, Croquet. Now, Chumley boy, there's nothing wrong with feeling lonely. Who do you miss?"

"I really miss my friends, sir. Part of me still wishes I was at Duel Academy. This last school year was the first time I've really had friends there, and they didn't care that I wasn't much of a duelist."

Max Pegasus smiled at this. "I'd like to know a little bit about your friends if that's all right…"

Chumley looked at his boss, surprised Pegasus would take interest in a new employee like this. "Well, okay. Well, my two best buddies at Duel Academy are Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale. They were my last set of roommates and they actually liked me. They didn't care that I'd been stuck in the Slifer dorm and they thought my artwork was cool. They also didn't tease me for being fat or eating lots of grilled cheese."

"You really like grilled cheese sandwiches, don't you? What's the best kind of cheese for a good sandwich?"

"Easy… There's this cheese that's a combination of cheddar and Monterey Jack, and it melts just perfect. We didn't have it at Duel Academy too often and my dad didn't send it much in my care packages. He sent tons of hot sauce, though."

"I thought your dad made rice wine."

"He does, but his company also makes killer hot sauce. Professor Banner's cat had gas for a week after drinking some of it. Nobody wanted near Pharaoh's cat box."

Pegasus laughed softly. "So keep telling me about your friends. What are they like?"

"Well, Syrus is kind of shy. His big brother is Zane Truesdale, and I think Sy gets intimidated because Zane's been so good at dueling. Sy's good, too, but he's always kind of scared. He's really nice, too. He gave me a card for my deck." Chumley pulled a card out of his deck (he kept it with him at all times—Duel Academy had told him to be armed for a duel at all times), and showed it to Pegasus. On the card was a bright green kangaroo with boxing gloves on. "Sy said with this card, I'd have a real deck from down under."

"You really like Australia, don't you?"

"Yeah. Dad took me on trips there, and when I almost left Duel Academy. That's when I saw the sunrise at Ayer's Rock. That's how I got the idea for the card I made."

"So Syrus boy is a good friend. What about Jaden boy?"

"Jay? He is a great duelist. He's beaten just about everybody at the academy and even some nutcases…" And Chumley told his boss about all that had happened at Duel Academy the past year. Max Pegasus listened and was reminded of certain events that had occurred fourteen years previously (one of them, at least, his fault) when Yugi-boy, he and others had gained the Millennium Items. It was of Yugi Muto and his group of friends that the Industrial Illusions CEO now thought. Even though they were all grown up and done saving the world (supposedly), they hadn't drifted apart and stayed the best of friends. In fact, Yugi had married Teá, the other kids had gotten married (even Kaiba-boy had), and now their very young children played together. Somehow, the way Chumley talked, it was as if the past replayed itself.

"…And that," concluded Chumley, "is what Jaden's like. They're my buddies and kind of like brothers. I didn't have to worry if they had my back or not. They did!"

"Well, Chumley boy, I know you feel alone right now, but your brothers are with you. But if you need a friend here… You can hang out with me."

Chumley looked astonished at this development. "Are you serious, Mr. Pegasus? I mean, I'm just a new employee."

"But you're a fellow artist, and I don't have a lot of friends here, either. Why don't you show me how to make one of your grilled cheese sandwiches and then you can get a canvas and come up to my office?"

"Yes, sir!" Chumley said happily, and took the boss over to the sandwich table…

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

A short time later, Chumley Huffington sat in Maximillian Pegasus's office, painting a new picture for a new card. The card showed Chumley, his pals at Duel Academy and Yugi Muto and his friends from years ago. The card would be called "Dueling Brotherhood." The boss liked this card design a lot, and reflected that he liked this boy, his friends and his grilled cheese.

_Okay, another quirky one. Pegasus, I think, would take Chumley under his wing and be his friend a little bit—there are bosses like that who worry and become mentors. I also think Chumley would be a bit lonely after having close friends and then being away from them. So… please read and review!_


	7. Broken Bond

Broken Bond: Zane Brian Truesdale

_Hello, GXers! Wow again! It's a lot of fun to come home and find wonderful things in your email inbox!__ I'm glad you're all enjoying this so much! Thanks, The Coffee Gladiator and Princess Lena aka Princess Kittuna, for your reviews! The story you are about to read is about Zane, GX's fallen angel. It took me a while to think of a good one that wasn't the Zane we've seen recently. There was a time when Zane did love his little brother, and I'd like to reflect that…_

_Disclaimer: I so do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX!_

He was known to some as Zane Truesdale, the duelist without mercy. To others, he was known as Hell Kaiser, as his nickname had once been the Kaiser of Duel Academy. But to one boy with aqua-blue hair and sweet gray eyes, he had simply been known as Big Brother. But that time seemed far away to the young man who had just tried to kill the boy with the sweet gray eyes. The Zane that was now didn't care that he had harmed Syrus and that his little brother was on the ground, unconscious and possibly near death, by the way Sy's best friend, Jaden was screaming, sobbing for help. This Zane no longer cared. However, the Zane that had been would have cared and gone back to help his brother…

--Flashback—Seven-year-old Zane and five-year-old Syrus were outside playing. It was a very sunny summer day and the dark-haired boy was riding around on his brand-new two-wheeler while his little brother was riding around on his bike with training wheels.

Zane suddenly had an idea, watching his brother ride. "Hey, Syrus, would you like to ride on my bike?"

Little Syrus stopped his bike for a minute, regarding his little brother for a moment. "Hey, Sy?"

"Yeah, Zane!" The blue-haired soon-to-be-kindergartner was all excited that his soon-to-be-second-grade brother was going to share his bike with him. Sy quickly got off of his bike and walked over to the bigger bike that his brother was holding up. "You really mean it?"

"Yeah, Sy," said Zane with a smile. "I think you can ride without training wheels. If you can, we can ask Daddy to take off your training wheels when he gets home from work."

"All right!" Syrus adjusted his Patroid bike helmet on his head and climbed onto his brother's bike as Zane held it steady for him. Then Zane held onto the bike as Syrus started to pedal. Everything went well… for about a minute. Then as Sy rode the bike without Zane holding on, it began to wobble. Then Syrus lost his balance and fell to the ground. Zane ran forward.

"Syrus, are you okay?!" The little boy was crying and was a mess of blood, snot and tears.

"I hurt my knee, Zane. I need a band-aid." Zane helped his little brother to his feet and they walked into their house, leaving their bikes in the garage. They made their way to the bathroom and Zane got the band-aids and disinfectant out from the cabinet.

"This may hurt a little, Syrus, but I've got to clean the wounds, okay? Be brave." Syrus nodded, and sucked in his breath sharply when Zane placed the disinfectant on his scraped knee and elbow. Then Zane pulled out some Duel Monsters band-aids and placed them on Sy's injuries. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks, Zane. I'm sorry…"

"Sorry for what? Everybody falls off their bike sometimes and I'll bet if you get the training wheels off of your bike, you'll be able to ride really well. Think you can try?"

Syrus smiled. "Yeah! Can you help me?"

"I'd be honored." –End flashback—

The Zane that had been had helped his hurt little brother. The Zane that was here now no longer cared. Their brotherly bond was broken.

_I hope this was a good glance into the boys' childhood. Zane wasn't always a villain or so cold. And there had to be a time when the two played together happily. Read and review, everyone!_


	8. Part of the Equation

Part of the Equation: Bastian William Misawa

_Hi, GX fans! This next story is for Princess Lena aka Princess Kittuna, as she is the one who suggested I "do Bastian next." __Enjoy this one! __Bastian Misawa is another less-developed character, as so often happens in ensemble shows, anime or otherwise. But what we know of him is this… He's incredibly smart and hates to admit he has normal crushes on cards. Being smart, for Bastian, is both blessing and curse. He uses logic, but sometimes forgets the human equation of things. __He began to learn about the human equation, though, when he became friends with Jaden and Syrus._

_Disclaimer: Peach doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX… Seriously…__ She also doesn't own anything having to do with Dr. Phil, except for some of his books and she is an avid watcher of his show._

_Author's note: This story takes place in Season 1, before the incident with the Shadow Riders/ Seven Stars. _

Hello. My name is Bastian William Misawa. As you tell from the accent, I have some British blood. My mum is British and a horticulturalist, but my father's Japanese American and an ophthalmologist (that's an eye surgeon, for those of you who are unaware). Anyhow, like my parents, I have a rather sharp intellect. My talent is in mathematics and my ability to use logic to think myself out of most situations, particularly in the pursuit of winning a Duel Monsters duel. I'm rather proud of my mind, but at times when I was growing up, I felt as if I was missing something.

The feeling I had was akin to when I know I'm missing something in an equation. I can figure out most often when I haven't correctly completed a long calculation, but in the case of my life, it took me quite a while to understand what, in my personal equation, I was missing. I went to the best schools in Domino; namely, Davida Dyson Preschool for Extraordinary Munchkins, the Albert Einstein School and then Domino's Stephen Hawking Junior High. I was always praised by my teachers and my family, and yet…I truly had no friends in those years.

To make matters worse, I was an only child. Mum and Dad gave me every opportunity to be social and I did what I could, but nothing worked. I never had friends. I picked up a Duel Monsters deck early on in elementary school and dueled other children, beating them easily using my differently formulated decks, hoping that becoming a champion might mean friends. It didn't. And so, when I was old enough, I asked my parents if I might attend Duel Academy. They weren't certain they should allow me, but came around when they found out I was able to take classes such as Quantum Mechanics. And so I took the entrance exam.

The day I took the practical entrance exam for Duel Academy was the day I met Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale. Jaden seemed to be a very confident young bloke, while Syrus seemed quite shy and unsure. I wasn't completely certain what to make of them, but yet I felt as if I'd known them most of my life. Syrus and I watched as Jaden took on Dr. Vellian Crowler and won using what I believed at the time to be sheer luck. I resolved to find out all I could about Jaden's dueling skills and anything else I could.

We ended up in separate dormitories, and I wasn't certain if I'd end up encountering them on a regular basis. However, as it happened, one afternoon, I was late to physical education class and ended up hitting a home run…right into the face of Dr. Crowler. That incident led to me really becoming the friend of Jaden and Syrus. Dr. Crowler wanted me to test to join Obelisk Blue (for his own ulterior motives, I later discovered) and the two Slifers were only too happy to help me fix my dormitory to prepare.

You see, from the time I was little, my passion for numbers led me to write equations on the walls of my bedroom. Perhaps this was partly why I never had friends growing up. It took only one study session with a classmate from Einstein to brand me an oddity among oddities… He bandied it about the school and from then on, everyone avoided me. My parents worried, but they told me what Dr. Phil said… "Be your authentic self." If I was true to myself by writing on my wall and I wasn't hurting anyone, that was fine. Someday, they told me, real friends wouldn't care if I wrote my equations on the walls.

I brought Jaden and Syrus to my dorm room with a little trepidation because of these past experiences. I feared they too would abandon me. But to my surprise, they didn't laugh. They just took it as part of my life and gladly helped me paint over the old equations to write new ones. But it didn't go quite as planned.

"I'm Michelangelo! Get it, Sy? I'm painting on the ceiliiii--!" Jaden said and fell off the ladder, splashing Syrus with wall paint.

"Of course you know, Jaden, this means war," Syrus countered and then hit him with paint… or tried to. I was hit and we were fighting with the paint. Somehow we managed to paint the dorm and laughed ourselves silly after the fight. It was the greatest time I'd ever had with boys who could be my chums. We cleaned off in the Ra bathrooms, then headed to the dining room to enjoy some dinner. They were delighted with the food, saying that Slifers didn't get this sort of food. I knew things were different between our dormitories, but I thought our food would have some uniformity.

That night, I went to the Slifer dorm with my new friends to sleep. Though the Slifer dormitory isn't as nice as the Ra dorms, Slifer Red has real warmth to it. Perhaps it's because I was welcomed there as a friend. I found it easy to fall asleep there because of this. The truth is…this was my first non-family, non-school-related sleepover. As it happened, Jaden and Syrus's roommate, Chumley wasn't too certain of me as Ras and Obelisks had been mistreating him, but once he realized I wouldn't be mean to him, he warmed up.

Anyway, after that day, I found I had some very good friends who became my cheering section. They cheered me on as I defeated Chazz Princeton and earned entry into Obelisk Blue (I didn't take it, though), and helped me through other things that happened later. More recently, I had to duel Jaden himself for the honor of competing in the School Duel, between our school and our sister and rival school, North Academy. I thought I could beat his deck (and nearly did) with logic and equations alone, but it didn't turn out that way. Jaden won and faced Chazz in the School Duel.

I admit to some frustration at not being able to win, but somehow it didn't matter so much. I believe I've found what I've been missing most of my life. While I have had logic, brilliance and a certain amount of success, I have never truly had friends…until now. My successes have seemed empty, but no longer. For I have realized the bond between myself and my friends, my brothers, is a very important part of the equation.

_I hope you all enjoyed Bastian's story. Princess Lena aka Princess Kittuna, I hope you like this particularly, as Bastian's one of your favorite hotties! Thanks to The Coffee Gladiator, Arisu Tsuranu, Sho-Syrus chan, syrusfanatic12, thingy-me-jellyfish, DueLingNinJaGirl and Glimerofhope for their reviews! Read and review, everybody!_


	9. Littermates

Littermates: Jesse Rhett Anderson

_Hello again, everyone! I am still amazed at the response this set of stories is getting. All I can say is…__THANK YOU! Those of you who are requesting characters… keep it up! I was trying to decide who to do next when__ Arisu Tsuranu made a three-person suggestion… "Do Jim, Axel and Jesse." Well, Arisu, I'm going to start with Jesse! __Jesse Anderson is quite obviously North Academy's answer to Jaden Yuki. We don'__t seem to know much about Jesse, other than he goes to North Academy, he considers his monsters to be family and he sounds like he's from Georgia (I base that conclusion on a college instructor's accent—she's from Georgia and her accent sounds like Jesse's). What is clear about Jesse is that he is a very sweet boy__ who knows what having friends means. I'll have to fill in the blanks a bit, so bear with me and enjoy the ride! Thanks to lunarlight20, syrusfanatic12__, Arisu Tsuranu __and __DueLingNinJaGirL __for their reviews!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! If I did, we'd know more about the characters!_

Hi, there! I'm Jesse Anderson, and I'm pleased to meet you! I'm here at Duel Academy because Professor Viper of West Academy wanted me to be here this year. Well, I might tell you more about him later. Anyway, I usually am at North Academy. It's a dueling school way up near the Arctic Circle, in the extreme northern part of Alaska! That's very different from where I grew up… Oh, are you sure you want to hear about that? Okay, but some of it's not happy and I don't want to make you cry… Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you…

Well, I was born and raised near Atlanta, Georgia. My mom and dad took great care of me and they loved me a lot. I remember how it was. Mama stayed at home and took care of me while Daddy worked. It was a great life and when I was six, I got my first Duel Monsters deck and I learned how to duel. As it happened, duel schools were popping up and so my parents started saving so I could go when I was big enough. They didn't want to send me to the school that was run in the Himalayas by the future chancellor of Duel Academy Central, Andrew Shepherd. But they said I could go to any of the bigger schools run by Kaiba Corp.

Well, things went really swell until I was 10. Mama and Daddy went out for a date night, but because of a tragic accident on Interstate 75, they went to their long home. I ended up moving in with my aunt and uncle and they followed what my parents wanted for me. I went to school and I learned to duel. When I was fourteen, about a year before I went to North Academy, I played in a tournament sponsored by Industrial Illusions and hosted by Maximillian J. Pegasus. I won that tournament and the prize money, but that wasn't all. Mr. Pegasus told me I'd won a special prize. While we walked, Mr. Pegasus asked me a few questions. Obviously, he asked me about my family. I told him what I told you. And then…

"Jesse boy, do you hear duel monsters talk to you?" I have to admit, I was a little bit surprised that he'd ask the question, and I guess my face showed it. "It's okay, Jesse, you're not the first. It makes you very special. I'll bet you're very close to your monsters, aren't you?"

I nodded. "They're my family, more so since my mom and dad…" I trailed off. No matter how old I get, it still hurts to think about not having Mama and Daddy. "My aunt and uncle are great, though," I continued.

"It's okay to grieve, Jesse boy. I know what it's like to lose the people you love," he said, clapping me on the shoulder. "I just hope you're okay with getting some new friends."

Mr. Pegasus took me to a special museum with very high security. He told me about seven ancient jewels that were lost during the time of the ancient Romans. Then he told me how he found them and made cards for the Crystal Beasts to be revived. It was then we stopped at a glass case with seven cards in seals.

"Jesse boy, I think you're destined to be these monsters' friend. Just reach out to them, and if the seals break, these cards are yours," Pegasus said. And so I reached out to the cards. The seals around them broke and I saw seven new friends who became part of my family.

The first Crystal Beast that introduced himself was Sapphire Pegasus. "Hello, Jesse," he said, bowing his head to me in greeting.

"No need to be so formal, boy," I said, reaching out and patting his white muzzle. Boy, oh boy, I wished he was solid so everyone could see him and how beautiful he was! "I'm glad to meet you, Sapphire. I hope you like bein' my buddy."

The next creature to make herself known was Amethyst Cat. She's a very pretty white cat, but she's no house pet. "Hello there, Jesse. I think I'll like you as my master," she purred.

"Amethyst, I reckon I'd rather be your friend, if that's all right with you," I said. It was. She sat herself next to Sapphire and they waited for their friends to make themselves known to me.

Then, the shy brother of my group came. "Um…hi, I'm Emerald Turtle," the turtle said in a voice that was like that weird New York director. "I don't like fighting much, but I'll do it for you, Jesse, okay?"

"It's okay, Emerald. I'll put you in battle only when I have to," I promised.

"I will fight for that girly turtle," said a voice that reminded me of California's former governor (when I was fourteen, he'd been out of office for a bit). "I am Amber Mammoth, and I am here to stomp your enemies up!"

"Well, I'm glad you're fightin' for me, Amber Mammoth, but don't call Emerald a 'girly turtle,' okay? He just doesn't stand to fight much," I said. Amber agreed.

Then my next feline buddy said howdy. "Hello, Jesse. I am Topaz Tiger. I am here to serve," he said prim as you please.

"Topaz, I want to be your friend, if you don't mind. I don't really want to be anybody's master."

"That's fine with me, chief," said a voice like the guy on the old "Inspector Gadget" cartoons, but with a little more of a head cold. "I'm Cobalt Eagle, and I think we'll all like that arrangement, if you just want to be friends."

"Is that all of you?" I asked. I looked to Pegasus, because he said there were seven Crystal Beasts. To my surprise, Pegasus was laughing.

"Jesse boy, look down." It was then I felt something or someone brushing against my legs. I looked down to see a cute little creature with a ruby on her tail. Somehow, I knew she was a she, and it was confirmed a second later.

"This is Ruby Carbuncle," Amethyst said. "She doesn't talk much, but what she's saying now is that she likes you very much and wonders if you wouldn't mind her riding on your shoulder sometimes. She also says you remind her of her littermates."

"That'd be right fine, Ruby girl," I said, moving to pick the little thing up. "You know, guys, I never had littermates, and I'd be downright honored if you'd let me be your littermate, or in your cases, Cobalt and Emerald, egg mates." I liked my new friends and if I was family to one, I'd love to be family to all of them.

So that's the way it's been the past few years. I have lots of human friends, including my new pals here at Duel Academy, but I am closest to my littermates, the Crystal Beasts. Whoa, I have to run! I'm in a practice duel with Jaden Yuki today! Bye, now!

_Sorry for the wait, everyone, but Jesse took a bit of work and I've been revising my original Yu-Gi-Oh fic, "The Jedi League of Duelists." I've also been a bit busy baking for the American Thanksgiving holiday and then decorating my bedroom for Christmas. I hope this was worth the wait! Read and review, if you would, please? Ruby Carbuncle is giving you her cute, beady eyes…_


	10. Croc Sister Shirley

Croc Sister Shirley: James "Crocodile Jim" Irwin Cook

_Hi, GX people!__ I'm glad you liked Jesse's story.__ Thanks to all my reviewers! You guys make it a lot of fun. As a result of your comments, I may just have to make a one-shot or two about Bastian at this rate during the Society of Light crisis. Anyway, for you Jaden fans, he's coming. I just haven't figured the story yet. I've been doing some research on crocodiles the last day or two, so I could do a story for Jim and Sh__irley. I needed to know what kinds of crocodiles were native to Australia. So thanks to Google, Wikipedia and other sites devoted to crocodiles. And a big t__hank you to the late naturalist__ Steve Irwin, for wh__om Jim gets his middle name__, for introducing us to the world of crocodiles__ and other amazing animals_

_Disclaimer: I don't own GX… Don't look so surprised…_

_Author's note: This story starts a few years before GX, somewhere in Australia._

Ten-year-old James Irwin Cook was wandering near a river on one of his many nature outings. Unlike most little boys his age, Jim preferred running outside to playing computer games. His hero was Steve Irwin, a great animal lover and naturalist who had died on an ocean trip due to the barb of a stingray. Jim knew the potential risks of being a naturalist, therefore and was always cautious when out on a trip. He also knew how much Mum and Dad worried about their very curious only child who'd already lost an eye (not due to his explorations, but something else).

At this moment, he was at a seemingly secluded spot at the river's bank. He knew crocodiles lived here and hoped to see their mating practices up close. But on this day, he would get something far different. Jim came upon a crocodile nest, hoping to see babies. What he saw, though, made him sad and angry. He smelled decaying flesh, and saw the carcass of a female saltwater crocodile. She had obviously been killed by poachers because she'd been skinned, and at first glance, it seemed as if her babies had been taken as well. "Lousy poachers," little Jim said, tears forming in his good eye, "they didn't even give you a fightin' chance, did they, girl?" It ripped him apart inside to know that this mother crocodile had died, and her babies were dead or dying at the hands of the poachers, just so some rich bloke or lady could have a crocodile skin purse, wallet or briefcase. This croc hadn't done anything; in fact, the crocs in this area had been very peaceful. They ate rats and other critters that had become overpopulated, so the croc population's ranks didn't need to be thinned.

Just as Jim was about to go find something to cover the mother croc's dead body, his good left eye spotted something moving at the bank of the river. He moved quietly as not to startle what he saw. "Hello, there, little thing, I'm Jim." The "little thing" was a baby crocodile. It was a little apprehensive, beholding the tall (from its perspective) human boy, and yet it moved closer to him. The small creature somehow sensed that this boy wouldn't hurt it, and so decided to take a chance. "That's right; I'm a friend," Jim said softly, "and I'm not like those monsters that killed your mum. In fact, I want to do something for your mum." The crocodile moved close to the boy and snapped its jaws around his finger. Not hard enough to sever anything, but hard enough that the bite drew blood. Jim took the pain saying, "There's nothing to fear; there's nothing to fear…" Then the crocodile let go and climbed onto the boy's hand. He concluded softly, "See? Nothing to fear." 1

Jim knew his parents wouldn't be totally thrilled that he was bringing a crocodile home with him, but somehow didn't care. He just couldn't leave the little thing alone to die out there; he just couldn't. So he put it in his special pouch, the croc sticking its snout out, and went and dug a grave for the crocodile's mother. He then found a way to move the heavy corpse into the hole and buried her. He even made a plaque for the grave that said, "Here lies Sheila, a good mummy croc. Poachers must be stopped."

"All right, little one, now I've got to figure what to do with you," he said, taking the croc out of the pouch and examining it. "I don't know if you're a Sheila or a bloke, but I'll find out, and then I'll name you." He stroked the crocodile's snout and walked home, carrying the baby.

DOYOUCOMEFROMALANDDOWNUNDER

As Jim suspected, his parents weren't thrilled with him bringing a baby saltwater crocodile into their house, but because they knew their son wouldn't be happy unless he was helping an animal, they allowed him to keep the croc on the condition that he took care of it. With a little research, little Jim found out that the crocodile was a Sheila (Australian slang for a girl). "Now, then, little girl, I've got to pick out a name for you. So what shall it be?" He took the "What to Name Your Baby" book that his mum had gotten before he was born down from the shelf and flipped through it.

"I don't think you look like a 'Bambi,' though you just might eat them when you get bigger," he laughed, brushing the baby croc's back with his index finger. "You're too green to be called Violet, and I don't really like the name Amber for you, though your eyes are a lovely color." And then as he flipped through the S names, he found one name his mother liked. "Shirley… According to this, it means 'bright meadow,' but it also means 'beloved.' I guess Mum wanted to name me Shirley when she was expecting me and was hoping for a girl. Well, you are the color of a bright meadow and I think I love you. And since you'll be like my sister, I think it's good to name you what my mum would name a little girl… Well, her daughter might have scales and eat rats, but I think she'll love you, too."

And so little Shirley became part of the Cook household. Little Jim had a best friend he first carried around in his little pouch. She ate rats, as Jim figured she would, which made his parents and neighbors very happy. She also went with Jim on his many expeditions, and seemed very happy when she did. Within a year, she was big enough that Jim needed to carry her in a specially designed Snugli with a hole cut out for her thick tail. Eventually, Shirley got to the point she'd follow Jim just like a dog with her favorite human, but Jim designed a special backpack carrier for her when he didn't want her walking.

A lot of kids teased young Jim for having a crocodile for a pet, but he didn't care. He liked his reptilian friend/sister. He took the name that the children gave him and used it with pride.

"I may be Crocodile Jim, but I wouldn't have it any other way, Shirley. You're my best mate, and always will be."

_There you have it, folks! Since Jim's a naturalist, it might make sense that he found Shirley that way. I could be wrong about what kind of crocodile Shirley is, but the snout and look of the saltwater croc seemed right. Thanks to Princess Lena aka Princess Kittuna (I'll see what I can do—he may get a one-shot all his own and I haven't done Sartorius!), DueLingNinJaGirL (Jaden might be the finale—I haven't decided yet!), Arisu Tsuranu (I may feel an Axel fic after this one), The Coffee Gladiator (I may just have to do that one—are they sorry at all?), lunarlight20 (here you are!) and syrusfanatic12 (yeah, he is and Ruby's adorable!) for your reviews! So, read and review, my friends…_

_1—This was taken almost directly from Hiyao Miyazaki's "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," dubbed by Disney a few years back. It's a movie worth seeing!_


	11. Hero Brother, Barely Known

Hero Brother, Barely Known: Axel Powell Brody

_Greetings again, GX fans! __My goodness! This little set of fics has quickly become my most-reviewed collection! I'm honored! You now have made a peach wookiee turn a lovely shade of pink! Anyway, I love your reviews so keep sending them in, and if you're so inclined, please review my other fics! Thanks to all of you!_

_So now we come to Axel Brody. I'd love to know if any of you can guess the significance of his middle name. It's special, but not because of its meaning. Axel is yet another character whose background hasn't been fleshed out, but we do know something about him. He's another army brat whose father is dead (seemingly on a mission with Viper) and he likes fire-type monsters. __I thought of a different plot point for Axel, though and it probably violates canon completely. Axel is going to have a brother who served with the Army Rangers. This isn't going to be a happy fic, but it's definitely a brother story… _

_This story is respectfully dedicated to our soldiers who have fought and died for our freedom._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or the US Army. I just know somebody whose son served as an Army Ranger__ in Afghanistan__ He came back home safely._

Axel Powell Brody ran through his backyard and his personal obstacle course, though he called it his training area. At the tender age of six, he knew exactly what he wanted to be when he got old enough…He wanted to be a dueling soldier. Yes, you heard right. Axel Brody wanted to be a soldier and he also wanted to be a duelist. He wanted to play the wildly popular game, Duel Monsters, and be great at it. About a year or so previously, strange things had happened and Duel Monsters had actually roamed the earth. When Axel found out that the monsters were real, he hoped that one of the dragons flying around would home in Osama Bin Laden and eat him for breakfast (leaving a little evidence, of course, that the terrorist leader was now dragon chow).

Little Axel made that wish because his older brother, Asher, was stationed in Afghanistan, fighting the War on Terror. Asher was an Army Ranger, a member of a very elite group of soldiers. They were in the mountainous region of the Middle Eastern nation, searching for the evil man that had ordered the attacks on America when Axel was just a baby. Asher was 19 when Axel was born, and the War on Terror had just started. Occasionally, Asher got to come home and see his parents and baby brother, but mostly, Axel grew up seeing his brother through pictures and videos. And because Axel's dad was also in the military, the little boy grew up idolizing both men. Perhaps this was why he wanted, more than anything, to be like his brother and dad, and was now running through his personal training area.

Axel ran through an obstacle course of tires, crawled underneath an area covered over in an old volleyball net, and then worked on climbing up a climbing wall his dad had helped him build. He always had trouble with the ropes, but on this day, he made it over the wall. _I wish __Asher could see me right now,_ the six-year-old thought, smiling. _Someday, I'm going to be in the Army Rangers just like you, big bro, and maybe you'll be home when I do!_

Axel then decided to take a rest and climbed into his tree house. He had a great view of his neighborhood and the front yard as well. He picked up his "rations," a bottle of water and a granola bar, and munched. His mom was inside the house making lunch while his dad was in the garage, tinkering with a project. Axel then noticed a shiny black car coming down the road. "I wonder who that car belongs to," he said to himself, picking up a pair of children's binoculars. He looked at the car's plates. "One of ours," noting that it was a government vehicle.

He climbed down from his perch, and got into the house. "Mom, Dad, I just saw a government car. I wonder who's coming?" His mom and dad had come into the living room to sit down for a bit, and they didn't have time to answer him because the doorbell rang. Mrs. Brody went to the door and outside stood a young man in a US Army uniform. He was carrying a flag folded in a triangle. Even before the young man opened his mouth, Axel knew what had happened. His hero, his brother had been killed in action.

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

Years passed. Axel continued to train, but now his training was more determined. And then his father was killed. And later, he had to fight for his own life at Duel Academy West and Duel Academy Central. He found some fighting brothers at Duel Academy Central, and decided before he went back to West Academy to take his new friends to meet his brother…

"Hey, Asher, hey, Dad," Axel said, saluting their graves. "I wanted you to meet my buddies. This is Jaden, Syrus, Bastian, Chazz, Jim, Jesse, Alexis, Blair, Hasselberry and their duel spirits and Shirley the crocodile."

"Hi, Mr. Brody, hi, Asher. I'm glad to meet you guys. I just wish I could've met you when you were here," Jaden Yuki said, stepping up to the graves and talking as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "My mom's up there with you, so maybe you guys meet up and talk about us. Axel's a great guy and a good friend."

Then Syrus stepped up. "Hi, Mr. Brody. Hello, Asher. Thanks for serving our country. I…I wish I was brave like you…"

"You're braver than you think, Syrus," Bastian Misawa said. "And Mr. Brody, Asher, I can tell you were inspirations to Axel. He is a good man and good warrior."

Each of the kids said hello to the late Brody men and saluted. Tyranno Hasselberry saluted and played "Taps" for the late soldiers. They bade goodbye to their fellow fighting brothers and left together.

_I hope you all enjoyed this story of Axel and his brother. I think Axel is an only child, but for the purpose of this story, I wanted him to have a brother that he looked up to. Read and review…_


	12. Us Two Against the World

Us Two Against the World: Sartorius and Serena

_Hello again, GX fans! Sorry Axel's story had to be such a downer. Sometimes, reality can be pretty sad. __And as for Jaden's mom, I don't know for sure about her status, but in my version of the Yugi-verse, she was a brilliant pediatric oncologist who died of brea__st cancer when Jaden was eight._

_Okay… now that the depressing stuff is out of the way,__ I have another t__ale, hopefully a__ bit happier. This tale centers __on__ Sartorius and his sister, Serena. They were homeless kids when we saw them in a flashback. We don't know how they got there, but something must've happened__ to their parents… At some point, they probably ended up in a foster home or orphanage, and that is where our tale begins…_

It had been about a week since ten-year-old Sartorius and his eight-year-old sister, Serena had been found by police officers in the street. For over two years since their parents had died, the two children had wandered the streets, never staying in one place too long. They hadn't wanted to risk being separated in foster care or in an orphanage, so they'd decided to run for it. For two years, they'd managed to avoid being captured, but then Serena had gotten sick. The police had found them near a construction site and taken them to the Happy Home Orphanage. To the two kids' surprise, they weren't separated and Serena had been well taken care of. She had something called pneumonia and the physician said it was a good thing that the police had found Sartorius and his sister when they did or the little girl might've died. Though they weren't in separate buildings, Sartorius hadn't been allowed to see his little sister because of the nature of her illness.

On this day, Sartorius was allowed into his sister's sick room. The doctor said it was very important that Sartorius and his sister not be too close for a little bit, and now the ten-year-old boy could finally see her.

"Serena?" he called softly, coming into the room, his funny striped hair all clean and his amethyst eyes shining. He was wearing a clean, well-fitting pair of blue sweats and new white socks on his feet. "Serena, it's me, and I brought you a picture for your room."

The little girl had amethyst eyes like her brother, but instead of hair like his, she had raven tresses. When she'd come to the orphanage, she'd been dirty and unkempt like her brother and so many other homeless children. Now, however, she looked like a little princess, sitting up in the warm bed, dressed in a pretty lavender nightgown that had ruffles at the collar and sleeve cuffs. She had been so pale when she'd been brought in here and now her color was peaches and cream. Her raven hair, once dull, was now very glossy.

"Sartorius! You were able to see me?"

"Yeah, little sister. The doctor didn't want me in here until now. You were so sick, she didn't want me to see you. But I didn't leave the other room unless I absolutely had to. Have you been eating well?" he asked, sitting down on a chair next to her bed.

"Yeah. I don't think I've eaten that well since before Mommy and Daddy died. I've eaten all I've wanted and the nurse gave me a hot fudge sundae!"

"That's wonderful, Serena. I had hot dogs for my lunch! Oh, here, I hope you like this picture I made for you," he said, handing it to her. It was a picture of the two kids in what looked like the Hawaiian island of Kauai, holding up a blue koala-like creature.

"You drew us with Stitch!" the little girl squealed. Just before their parents passed, the four of them had seen "Lilo and Stitch" and Serena had wished for an Experiment 626 of her own for a pet. Even being on the streets hadn't stopped the little girl from wishing for that sort of pet.

"Yeah. I thought that might cheer you up, Serena. It's always been us against the world anyway. Hey, what's that?" Sitting on the bed with the small girl was a plush blue Stitch doll.

"I got a Stitch doll! Somebody left it for me. I don't know when, though."

"That's great, sis! Think I can stay here longer?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. We can watch a movie!" The two ended up watching "Lilo and Stitch," and were just glad to be together. The two enjoyed the movie very much, and afterward, enjoyed some Jell-O.

"Sartorius?" Serena asked.

"Yes, Serena?"

"Tell me our future…"

Sartorius smiled at this. One of his treasured possessions was a deck of Tarot cards. While most people couldn't predict the future with these cards, for some reason the boy could. And so he drew his cards. "Well, right now," he said, pointing to the first card, "we're going to have it really good here and maybe we'll get a good family to take care of us. But when we get older…" His face got concerned…

"Sartorius, don't!" Serena pleaded.

"If I tell you, maybe we can stop it," he said.

"Okay," she said and listened.

"Something bad is going to happen to us. We might be separated for a little while," he continued, pointing to the next card. "But then, you're going to help save me, like Lilo saved Stitch and Stitch saved Lilo. And then we'll be okay again, all right, Serena?"

"I like that I'll be able to save you, Sartorius, but I wish you didn't have to be in trouble for me to do it…"

"That's okay. Do you think the nurse will let me stay in here tonight?"

"Maybe… I'll ask, big brother." She did and it was okay with the doctor and nurse. An extra bed was brought into the room and a pair of clean pajamas. That night, Sartorius and Serena went to sleep, holding hands.

_I thought Sartorius and Serena could use a little happiness because of what they'd go through in the future. Thanks to syrusfanatic12, lunarlight20 and Arisu Tsuranu for reviewing! Read and review this one, too! I hope you enjoyed it!_


	13. Love and Ambition

Love and Ambition: Slade and Jagger Princeton

_Hi, fellow fans of Jaden and his crew! Wow, I've been impressed with your reviews yet again! __And thanks for making this my most-reviewed set of stories so far! __Congrats to Emerging-From-A-Bloody-Rose who guessed that Axel Brody's middle name was taken from former Secretary of State Colin Powell__, the first African-American to hold that position. He was also Chairman of the Joint Chie__fs of Staff during the Gulf War __under President George Herbert Walker Bush and National Security Advisor under Presidents Reagan and Bush.__ Thanks to syrusfanatic12, Arisu Tsuranu, lunarlight20, The Coffee Gladiator and Emerging-From-A-Bloody-Rose for their reviews!_

_I've had a __request that I do a fiction about__ Slade and Jagger Princeton__ from Arisu Tsuranu a few stories back, and I've finally found a story that fit. __To whoever mentioned that Slade is the politician and Jagger is the __financial genius, thanks for the correction! I may __use that inform__ation eventually… Well, this story__ assumes that there was one time that Slade and Jagger were dreamers and they actually loved Chazz._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! Trust me…_

"Hey, Slade?"

"Yeah, Jagger?"

"What'll you do when you're President of the United States?"

This was a typical conversation between Slade and Jagger Princeton. It had been over a year since their little brother, Charles Xavier, more popularly known as Chazz, was born and about a year since their mother had lost her battle with cancer. Before their mother had found out she had cancer and before Chazz was born or even thought of, Slade Robert Princeton dreamed of being the President of the United States, while Jagger Aristotle Princeton dreamed of being a Wall Street billionaire. Their father encouraged his sons to dream and now-eighteen-year-old Slade was realizing his dream, as was sixteen-year-old Jagger.

Slade was sitting at his desk in the home office, as was Jagger. "Well, I'll campaign for the usual stuff…tax cuts for the middle class, solving the 'crisis' of the day and fixing Social Security. They talk about that one every election year. And then, when I'm President, I think I'll legalize something… I don't know what I'll legalize yet, but I'll legalize something. What'll you do on Wall Street, Jag?" Slade said all this while rubbing his new soul patch on his chin.

"I'll get enough money and then I'll start taking over other companies. I think I might go after the Trumps at some point. I'd like to go after the real estate market." Jagger, in contrast to his brother, had no facial hair because he shaved it off every morning. His hair wasn't as wild as his older brother's, which worked better in the world of finance. Jagger was already working for a local investment company, while Slade was already dabbling in local politics (he had thus far managed to be in non-partisan things).

Just then, baby Chazz, who'd been taking a nap in his playpen, woke up. He sat up, and then pulled himself up on the edge of the pen. "Slade? Jagger? Ba-ba?" the tiny boy asked. He was asking his brothers in his baby speech for a bottle. Chazz was dressed in red footie pajamas with his initials on the left breast and his raven hair, unruly to begin with, was sticking out all over the place.

"Okay, Chazzy, I'll get it for you," Slade said, while Jagger picked the tiny boy up out of the playpen. Jagger changed Chazz's wet diaper while Slade went to the kitchen and warmed up a bottle of milk.

"Does that feel better, Chazz?" Jagger asked as he fastened the diaper on the happy black-haired baby. Chazz giggled. "I guess it does," the sixteen-year-old grinned, laughing too, then sobering. "I just wish Mom could see you."

Then Slade returned with the bottle of milk for Chazz. "Hey, Jag?"

"Yeah, Slade?"

"Let's get a picture of us with Chazz. When we're huge successes, we'll remember when we were all younger and dreaming of our success. Chazz'll like this picture too, when he's successful. What do you think you'll be good at, Chazz?"

"Ba…" Chazz cooed, taking his bottle.

Slade called in the maid to take a picture of the three Princeton brothers (their father was sitting in his room, blankly staring at the TV screen) and Slade and Jagger sat down on a couch and sat their baby brother between them. The maid snapped the picture, and then Slade downloaded it onto his computer and printed out three copies.

"Now, we'll frame these, and have them with us when we're big successes… All three of us…"

Over fourteen years passed, and the Princeton boys each took their road in life. Slade and Jagger each went into their choice professions, and Chazz tried to find his way. Somewhere in the fourteen years after that photograph was taken, the two older boys lost the love they had for their baby brother, and that love became naked ambition. As they'd planned, Slade and Jagger kept the pictures on their desks, but began to curse the little boy in the picture when he didn't perform up to their standards. Chazz, when he got older, wished he could really remember that time when his brothers were happy and actually loved him.

_I just can't seem to end a Princeton family fiction happy… But there was, at least, a time when Chazz's brothers actually cared about him. Read and review!_


	14. Betrayed

Betrayed: Aster Edward Phoenix

_Hi again, GX fans! Sorry for the slight delay in a new chapter, but I had another idea in my head for a new Darkwing Duck story and I had to do a little research to confirm things about Aster P__hoenix. Thanks to my reviewers Arisu Tsuranu, syrusfanatic12, lunarlight20 and The Coffee Gladiator! And I am seriously thinking about a story where Chazz will get his revenge on Slade, at least. It involves a political ad… that's all I'll say. _

_Well, now we come to Aster Phoenix__. We know a bit about him, such as he was orphaned a__t five years old when Kyle Jable__s, aka The D, killed his father. Of course, Aster didn't find that tidbit out until he was fifteen and dueling in the Pro League. We also know he was friends with Sartorius before Sartorius temporarily turned to the dark side which was cloaking itself in light. How betrayed would a young man feel, finding all of that out? That is the basis of my story._

_Disclaimer: Hello?! I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX! _

Aster Phoenix stood quietly at what was known around Duel Academy as Jaden Yuki's chilling spot. It was a beautiful spot. It was an oak tree near a cliff that overlooked the ocean and it was a good place to chill or to just come and think. At this moment, Aster Phoenix was contemplating all that had just happened. The two people he loved like brothers had tried to kill him or use him. Aster couldn't decide just what felt worse.

_At least if the D had killed me, I wouldn't have felt any more pain like I'm feeling now._ The platinum blonde-haired blue-eyed boy in a clean white suit was in a lot of pain. _Kyle killed my dad and Sartorius tried to kill me. I just…_ And then, silent tears made their way down his cheeks.

"Aster?" asked a soft voice. The boy turned to see his… _can I really call him a friend after this?_ the boy thought… coming up to him. "May I talk to you?" Sartorius asked.

"Free country," the boy commented to the young man who'd been his manager and not really looking at him. "It doesn't matter."

"Aster, please… I have to…" Sartorius struggled to find the right words, then continued, "I don't know if we can ever be as we were after all of this. But please believe me when I say I wish I could take everything back." Aster looked at Sartorius and saw the trace of tears in the amethyst eyes. "I don't know if you can even forgive me for…"

Aster stopped him. "I know you weren't in control when you did it and you tried to help me. It's going to be hard for a while. I feel like everything in my life is gone. Even the Pro League seems empty to me. I just can't believe that Kyle was the one… How could he lie to me and say my dad was just missing?! He was like my brother, you know?" The boy couldn't stop the tears from falling and Sartorius took a chance, pulling the boy into a brotherly hug.

"I know. Let it out, Aster…" They sat down together, and Aster just cried. He'd held in the tears this long, and now they came in a flood. He cried like the very small boy he'd been when his father had died, he cried for the brother he'd confronted and lost and he cried out all the fear he'd held in throughout his journeys and the anger and rage. Sartorius said and did nothing while the boy cried, knowing that anything he said beyond what he'd already said would be pointless.

As it happened, Serena, Sartorius's sister, was heading toward the same chilling spot, but she wasn't alone. Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, Alexis Rhodes, Atticus Rhodes, Chazz Princeton, Tyranno Hasselberry and Blair Flannigan were following the dark-haired woman in the pretty Japanese kimono. They each had treats in their backpacks that they could enjoy at the big tree as a "We Saved the World" party. They were just getting to the big tree when they came upon Aster and Sartorius in the hug.

"Sartorius?" Serena asked. "What's going on?"

The two young men broke from the hug, and everyone saw that Aster had been crying. "We were talking about what's happened, sister," Sartorius said. "Oh, hello, everyone."

Jaden strode forward. "Hey, Aster. Are you okay?"

"Jaden…" Now Aster struggled to find his words, and finally found them. "I just really missed Sartorius and Kyle… they were like my brothers, you know?"

To Aster's surprise and most of the group's, Jaden nodded. "I understand. After Sy had that bad duel…" Jaden didn't need to say the duel was against Zane where Syrus had almost died, and wasn't going to because he didn't want his surrogate brother to start crying again. Jaden continued, "I was scared I was going to lose him. That was one of the worst days of my life. And through most of this year, I've almost lost Bastian and Hasselberry and Chazz, and they're like my brothers, too."

"Aw, Sarge," Hasselberry said, trying to hold back tears.

"Cheers, Jaden," Bastian added, smiling.

"You're making me sick, Slacker," Chazz said (but touched that Jaden thought of him that way, though he'd never admit it).

Jaden smiled at this. "What I'm saying, Aster, is that I understand, and… you've got us."

Blair and Alexis exchanged glances, and the ten-year-old girl whispered to the sixteen-year-old, "Guys aren't supposed to talk about their feelings like this, are they?"

Alexis shrugged her slim shoulders. "Some don't, but these guys do."

Aster, meanwhile, regarded Jaden for a moment. "After all I did to you… you're willing to forgive that easily? And let me be part of your… family?"

The brown-haired, brown-eyed boy rubbed the back of his head, smiling. "Yeah. People in families have disagreements and turn out okay. So?"

Aster smiled back. "I'm cool with that." He may have been betrayed by brothers, but that didn't mean he had to stay feeling bad. And so the "We Saved the World" party sat at the chilling spot, and Aster Phoenix enjoyed the company of a brother he thought he might lose, and the company of some new brothers and sisters.

_That's Aster's story. I hope you enjoyed it! Read and review… The Destiny Hero Doom Lord is watching…_


	15. Educators' Fraternity

Educators' Fraternity: Vellian Crowler

_Hello again, GX fans! Sorry for the delay… I had to figure out this latest story and get some other ideas out there. Anyway, thanks again to lunarlight20, The Coffee Gladiator, Arisu Tsuranu and syrusfanatic12 for their reviews! I hope you're still very much with us, Arisu! Hearing from all of you makes me smile. __And a big thank you to Princess Lena aka Princess Kittuna who archived my Bastian one-shot, __"Alone" in her C2! That's the first time I've had that happen!_

_The next person in our story is Vellian Crowler. We probably all laughed the day we first saw him…with the pink ruffles and the whole __Liberace__ thing going. Clearly, he's got issues or horrible fashion sense__. Any__way, he's a teacher at Duel Academy and teachers have a fraternity and sorority all their own. __And some teachers are closer than others. __When you teach at a boarding school, I'd be willing to guess that such a bond is stronger. And so, I give you his story…_

Vellian Crowler stood in a secluded area of Duel Academy. He was a tall man with his long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. This might not have mattered except for the fact that in addition to his Obelisk Blue jacket, he wore pink ruffles and his face looked rather feminine. But at this moment, that didn't matter. The secluded area he was standing at was a memorial.

"Dedicated to the memory of Professor Lyman Banner," the plaque on the small monument read. Vellian sighed. "I wish you were here… I know I've been rough on your kids, but that's because they each have potential." And then he thought back to the day ten years ago when he'd met Lyman Banner (or what may have been the clone)…

--Flashback, the summer of 2007—Vellian Crowler stood looking proudly at his new home, the Obelisk Blue dormitories, looking like a splendid fairytale castle on the grounds of the brand new Duel Academy. Duel Academy was the first school of its kind, a large school where hundreds of students could learn the game of Duel Monsters properly and, according to the school's founding group, safely and hopefully without people trying to take over the world. Vellian didn't understand that part of it, but did remember how early in 2006 duel monsters had roamed the earth. He, in fact, was still learning things himself, and would work at getting a doctorate in dueling while he was here as a teacher at Duel Academy.

"Hello there, Mr…" said a soft, kind voice. Vellian turned around and beheld a young Asian man who looked rather young. He was wearing glasses and a white shirt and black pants. He also had a large yellow cat with brown stripes on its back and a magnificent tail sitting on his shoulder. He also held out his hand to shake the blonde man's hand.

"Vellian Crowler. I've been assigned to be the Obelisk boys' dormitory. Are you also a teacher here, Mister…"

"Banner, Lyman Banner. It's a pleasure to meet you," the younger man said, vigorously shaking Crowler's hand. "I'm assigned to Slifer Red. I hope my students end up in your dormitory at some point."

"Me, too. And who's your furry…friend?" Vellian asked, swallowing a little. He didn't exactly like cats, but he figured he should try to be nice to this one.

"Oh, this is Pharaoh. I named him for the mysterious pharaoh that sealed away the magic that caused duel monsters to walk the earth. I'm trying to research everything I can about that pharaoh and I met Pharaoh here about three months ago. Believe it or not, he was quite scrawny, but he has grown into the beautiful furry creature you see in front of you. He is quite a smart and wonderful cat. Tell me, Vellian, have you heard about these legends?"

"Yes, actually, I have. I'm not sure what I believe, actually, but after what happened early last year, I find it easier to believe that Duel Monsters isn't simply a game…"

The two men talked for quite a while after that, walking around campus, checking out their classrooms, the cafeterias, meeting other professors and meeting the founding members of the school. The last took a while, but was rather interesting. And then Crowler and Banner found themselves talking to each other again.

"So where do you see yourself a few years from now?" Vellian asked Lyman.

"I… see myself perhaps making a serious discovery in alchemy or the magic connected with dueling," Lyman said, a slight tremor in his features, "but I don't know… I just hope I have the time…what with teaching and all," he finished. Vellian looked at the young man curiously, thinking there was something more to what Lyman said, but then figured he'd read more into it than what was actually there. "What about yourself, Vellian?"

"Well, besides molding young minds, I intend to get my doctorate in dueling. That should take a few years. I wonder if we'll have a student that makes us famous…"

"I believe we will, Vellian…I believe we will…" –End Flashback—

Vellian stood staring at the memorial for quite a few minutes. He remembered Lyman and himself, sitting eating lunch together and talking about students. He remembered how their philosophies regarding discipline had differed slightly (Lyman was of the opinion that children should be reasoned with; Vellian argued that students should be disciplined harshly) and how they had agreed that dueling took a lot of heart.

_He was as close to having a brother as I've ever gotten,_ Vellian reflected, _but I didn't know everything about him. He was cloned and he had to be part of the Shadow Riders. He was the one who discovered the Sacred Beasts and that was what killed his original self, and I didn'__t even know it. We got along so well, even though I was always hard on the Slifer boys. He never __acted like he thought I was strange because of the way I look. __He accepted me, just as a brother does. And now he's gone…_"Lyman, I hope you've found peace wherever you've gone, but I wish you were still here."

Dr. Vellian Crowler laid a yellow rose down at the memorial, the rose of friendship and brotherhood, at the memorial. He missed this young brother and would for the rest of his days.

_I really hope this was worth the wait, everyone. I'm guessing this might be a violation of canon (we didn't see a great deal of interaction between Crowler and Banner). I just think Crowler and Banner could've been good friends despite their differences. Brothers and sisters can be complete opposites too, and yet be friends. And so…please read and review!_


	16. My Friends, My Family

My Friends, My Family: Jaden Kiyo Yuki

_Hello, again, GX fans! Well, you've been waiting, asking, watching and hoping. Your wait is over. It's time for JADEN! Yes, I am writing down a story about Duel Academy's number one knuckleheaded hyperactive duelist, Jaden Kiyo Yuki! Yes, that was a reference to Naruto Uzimaki, because I see certain similarities between those two__ anime boys__They both are lovable goofballs with almost unlimited gastric capacity, and both have a way of making people smile! __Jaden's middle name__as I've said, will__ always be Kiyo in my stories because the name means "happy child." __I think that suits him pretty well. Sure, we know Jaden has his dark side, but he has so much joy in him, he fits that middle name very well._

_Jaden will tell this story himself, and he'll probably go on for a little while. Enjoy!__ This story also takes place sometime in Season 2, so we're not going to see the kids from the other academies in this fic.__ This is also before the incident with Aster, so at this point, he's a friend Jaden hasn't really met yet._

_Disclaimer: Peach Wookiee does NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. She really doesn't…_

Hi! I'm Jaden Yuki! How are you? I'm glad to see you, and welcome to Duel Academy! This has been where I've been living. I live in the Slifer Red dorms. I know some people think that this is the worst dorm ever, but I actually like it here. If I have food, shelter, clothes, my Duel Monsters cards and my friends, I think I'm in pretty good shape…Oh, you want to hear about me and my friends? You've got it!

Well, first I was born. As far as I know, not much happened while I was a baby. I don't really remember anything until I was about two, and my mom and dad really didn't tell me anything.But when I was two, I got interested in Duel Monsters. Seems kind of strange, doesn't it, that a toddler would get interested in a card game, huh? Well, that's really how it happened. My mom and I were walking through a store one day and I saw the Duel Monsters cards. Then a really weird thing happened…a monster came out of a pack and waved its paw at me. Then another monster (I think it was Maha Vailo) came out and said, "Hello, Jaden."

I got really excited and I said to my mom, "Mommy, cards! Cards, Mommy!" Mom didn't quite understand what I meant, but she understood I thought the monsters were cool. So she bought me a deck and I started to learn about duels by watching them on TV. I decided Yugi Muto was a very cool duelist and I wanted to be just like him. It helped that he kept winning all the time, so I decided I wanted to be King of Games after he was done being King of Games.

Now, I don't know if this happened with Yugi or not (I haven't actually gotten to talk to him about it), but after I got my deck, it seemed like the deck talked to me. Well, it seemed like my monsters talked to me. There were times I'd be looking at my cards and it was as if the monsters would talk to me. Really, they would! This got a lot stronger when I first got my Elemental Hero monsters. I know you've seen me duel with Avian, Burstinatrix, Bubbleman, Sparkman, Flame Wingman, Clayman, Rottweiler, and a lot of other monsters. They sort of talked to me when I was little, and most of the time, they were like my friends.

Yeah, I have a lot of friends now, but when I was little I really didn't. My mom was a pediatric oncologist at Domino Children's Hospital…oh, that means she was a doctor who treated kids with cancer…and she didn't have time to take me to playgroups. My dad also worked and I was in daycare. I know that sounds like I should've made friends there, but…well, I got sent to time-out a lot, so the other kids at Pokey Oaks decided they didn't want to play with me. That sort of thing kept happening through elementary school and into junior high. So I made up a friend to play with… My imaginary friend got kind of possessive, and so I got rid of her. I hope she doesn't come back.

Besides the fact that I didn't have friends, I also lost my mom when I was eight. When I was seven, Mom found a lump somewhere and went and had it checked. It turned out that she had a very aggressive form of breast cancer and there was nothing the doctors could do. I watched my mom die over the course of a year, and I found comfort in my card friends. I needed them a lot more after Mom died because my dad really got sad afterward. He's been really depressed since then, but he is getting help finally.

Anyway, I had my friends in my cards, but though they talked to me a little bit, they didn't seem like they were physically all there. That didn't happen until the day I met Yugi Muto while running through Domino Central Park. I accidentally ran into him (quite literally) and he helped me pick up my deck. He wished me luck at the entrance exams and then handed me a new card for my deck…Winged Kuriboh! I thought I could hear Winged Kuriboh, but then thought it was just because I was under stress because I was really late. But it turned out Winged Kuriboh really could talk to me! Soon, I could see him and all of my monsters. They had always been my friends, but then they really were there! So now I have a whole family of monsters to chill with.

But my monsters aren't my only family. On the day I met Yugi, I also met Syrus. Syrus Truesdale is my roommate and my best friend. He was trying out for Duel Academy, too, and he was really nervous even though he made it into school. We made friends really quick and found out we were in the same dorm together. It felt like we'd known each other forever, and Sy thought we maybe were friends in ancient Egypt! I thought that was kind of silly, but it does feel like we've known each other forever. I found out later that he didn't have a good relationship with his big brother, Zane. In some ways, I guess, Sy needs me to be the big brother that actually understands him and likes Sy for Sy. And I like being Syrus's brother.

Then there's Chumley Huffington. He was in our dorm last year, but now he works at Industrial Illusions for Maximilian Pegasus as a card designer. He's really nice, though he didn't seem like it at first. He'd lost a lot of roommates he thought might be his friends because they moved up to Ra Yellow fairly quickly and then ignored or teased him, so he didn't really trust us at first. But then I introduced him to the best grilled cheese sandwich making technique on the planet and we were all buddies. We also played Duel Monsters a lot so that he felt better about dueling. I found out he's like me in that he can see the monsters in his deck. He came really close to beating his dad and almost beat Dr. Crowler at the end of the year so he could graduate. Chumley flew off to Industrial Illusions just after his duel with Dr. Crowler and was with his friend, Des Koala. He's like my big brother… in more ways than one.

Another brother of mine is Bastian Misawa. He is super-smart and a lot of fun after we've gotten our homework done. Sy and I met him at the Duel Academy entrance exams and he was really cool. He beat an Obelisk Blue student to get into the academy and he did really well. Then when we got to the academy, we found out we were in different dorms, so we didn't see much of Bastian for a little while. But then one day in gym class, we were playing baseball and Bastian hit Dr. Crowler in the eye with a ball after hitting an impressive homerun. Dr. Crowler was about to go ape on me, but Bastian told Dr. Crowler he hit the ball. That resulted in Bastian testing to go to Obelisk Blue and us getting invited to dinner at the Ra cafeteria!

Bastian wanted us to help him paint the walls in his room which… might've been a bad idea…I was painting the ceiling, lost my balance and hit Syrus in the face with a wet paintbrush. Sy used the Daffy Duck line, "Of course you know this means war," and the three of us ended up in a paint battle! Somehow, we actually _did_ get the room painted before dinner. Then Bastian came over to our dorm to sleep over. It was so much fun and I got Bastian as a good friend and my really, really smart brother.

Another guy that I think is a brother is the guy who won't really admit it. His name is Chazz Princeton. Last year, he started as an Obelisk Blue and he'd gone to Duel Academy Prep. When I first met him, Chazz acted like he was everything and that everyone should worship him. However, he was hiding a lot, and nobody found that out until mid-year right before the big School Duel between our academy and our sister school, North Academy. Chazz was the one Bastian dueled to go into Obelisk. The stake for Chazz in that duel was demotion, but Bastian didn't take promotion, so things would've worked out for Chazz. But Chazz left Duel Academy early the next morning and we didn't see him again until the School Duel.

On that day, I saw exactly how a family shouldn't act. When Slade and Jagger, Chazz's brothers, showed up, I noticed how Chazz changed. I really noticed it when I walked by the bathroom. Chazz was practically crying, talking out "family duty" and who he was in relation to that duty. Part of me really didn't want to duel him because of that. I know I've dueled to save the world, but I've tried to have fun while I've done it. And when I'm dueling normal people, I duel to have fun. I chose to duel Chazz that day, to teach him how to have fun dueling again. I won that duel and then stood up to Chazz's stupid brothers. Slade (who looks like a big ape) was trying to strangle Chazz and I couldn't let it happen. That jerk let Chazz go and then both Slade and Jagger disowned him.

Chazz didn't have a regular family after that, so all of us in the Slifer dorms made him our brother. Chazz groaned about us being dysfunctional, but I know he loves having us around. I've caught him a couple of times smiling, but then he gets that grumpy look on his face and says, "What are you looking at, slacker? I mean, don't you have something better to do?" He acts really grumpy, but I know better. He acts like he likes being alone sometimes, but he's really okay. He doesn't mean it; he just never learned how to be a buddy. Chazz is probably the grumpiest of my brothers, but I know he doesn't really mean it. He just never really has known anything else, but one of these days, he won't be so grumpy. I'm just glad he's back here right and he won't have to worry about those so-called brothers of his anymore.

My newest brother came to Duel Academy this year and he is absolutely great! His name is Tyranno Hasselberry, and he loves the Army and dinosaurs and of course, dueling. We didn't start on the greatest of terms, but I found out he's a great guy. He acted like a bully at first, but that was only because he had trouble making friends. He said he lost friends and fans and he couldn't figure out why when we dueled. I discovered that he pretty much dueled the same all the time and his fans got bored with it. He also didn't seem to have a lot of fun when he dueled, so I told him about how I had fun dueling and then he moved into the Slifer dorm with Sy and me! Hasselberry's great…okay, he's a little obsessed with military regulations, but he's still a great friend.

Well, that's just about everybody…Oh, you want to know about Alexis and Atticus Rhodes? Well, Atticus is a really nice guy and definitely a brother type. He and I get along great, which is a good thing. I'm glad he came back from wherever the heck he was, because Alexis was missing him terribly…Alexis, though…I can't consider her a sister. Yeah, I know I act like she's a good friend most of the time, but…I'm her fiancé…Huh? Oh, yeah…Well, as you probably know, last year, a guy named Harrington Rosewood dueled me for the privilege of being Lex's fiancé. As far as I know, they've never even hung around together, but he acted like he owned her, so I had to win. I won, but…well, I didn't want to force Alexis into something she didn't want to be in, so I did what everyone would expect. I played dumb and asked what a fiancé was. Fortunately, everybody fell for it. Someday, I'll win Alexis if that's what she wants and then she'll be part of my family in a different way and Atticus will be my brother-in-law.

Well, that's who my friends and my family are right now. My monsters and my classmates are the closest things to family I've got. I hope I'll get additions to my family soon…Oh, man, I'm late! I've got to go duel this new guy, Aster Phoenix! See you later!

_Man, Jaden went on forever, didn't he? Well, I hope this was worth waiting for! Read and review!_


	17. Shattered Dreams

Shattered Dreams: Adrian and Ekou Gecko

_What's up, GX fans? Well, yet again, I am pleased with all your support! Thank you for making this series by far my most reviewed series of stories! And thank you specifically to last chapter's reviewers, Arisu Tsuranu, The Coffee Gladiator, lunarlight20 and syrusfanatic12! There is one last set of siblings I have to do as a single one-shot before I bring in a couple of group one-shots to close out the series._

_Adrian and Ekou Gecko are tragic characters in the GX saga, at least the way I read it. Ekou was the daughter who was treated as a second-class citizen simply because she was a girl. Adrian was taken from the desert where he was living and was adopted into the Gecko family as a son. However, when Adrian and Ekou's parents had a baby boy, both Adrian and Ekou were pushed away. Adrian found himself at the bottom of the family totem pole simply because he wasn't a blood G__ecko._

_It is my view that these two kids had shattered dreams, hence the title… This isn't going to be happy, folks…_

_Disclaimer: Peach Wookiee doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of its characters._

Twelve-year-old Adrian Gecko and twelve-year-old Ekou Gecko were lost souls. Someone who was looking at the Gecko family from the outside couldn't perceive this because the entire Gecko family was good at keeping secrets. On the outside, Adrian Gecko was a successful happy boy who had been lovingly adopted right off the street by Gilbert Gecko, a wealthy east coast entrepreneur and his wife, Rachel. They already had a little girl, and had been trying to have another child for quite a few years. So the couple decided to find a boy that needed a home… or so it seemed to the outside world.

The reality that very few people saw, however, was this… Gilbert Gecko was obsessed with having a male heir to the Gecko throne. His wife had given him a beautiful baby girl whom they'd named Ekou, because she was an echo of her mother's beauty and sweetness, but he had wanted a boy. And then, Rachel had trouble conceiving again or keeping a pregnancy to term. This drove Gilbert to ignore his daughter and obsess over a way to have a son with or without his wife. Finally, one day, Gilbert's desperation led him out to the desert where he knew a little redheaded boy named Adrian had been evading authorities. He and his wife found the boy and convinced him to come home with them. They adopted the boy and treated him as their son.

But one day, Rachel realized she might be pregnant. Tests confirmed it, and she would manage to carry the child to term. Gilbert Gecko was thrilled and in being thrilled, said the one thing to Adrian that no chosen, adopted child should ever have to hear… "This child will be my one true son." With that, Adrian Gecko's dreams of having a family who loved him without condition were shattered.

"I'm sure Daddy didn't mean it, Adrian," Ekou said to her brother. "I think he's just excited about us having a new baby." Part of Ekou knew otherwise, but she didn't want to believe it.

"No, Ekou… he meant it. I should've known the last few months were too good to be true." Those promises of love and family from Gilbert and Rachel to Adrian were forgotten as soon as Gilbert had what he wanted. The ultrasound had confirmed that the coming baby was a boy, so while Adrian knew he'd be treated like a treasured house pet, he would not be a treasured son any longer.

Ekou sighed. "I wish I could say you were wrong, Adrian, but Daddy doesn't want me, either. He's so centered on having a male blood heir that he doesn't care about me at all, unless I do something to embarrass the family." She ran her fingers through her dark hair, pain visible in her dark eyes. "You're adopted, I'm blood, but we're both… outcasts…" Ekou had dreamed that one day, she would find her father actually valued her for who she was, and love her as she was. But her dreams, too, had been shattered.

Adrian pushed his glasses, which had slipped down his nose, back onto the bridge of his nose, then ran his fingers through his wavy red hair. His gray eyes showed just how troubled he was. "Yeah, we're outcasts. But…maybe it doesn't have to be so bad. What do you want to be in a few years, Ekou?"

"You're going to think it's stupid and something a girl shouldn't do…"

Adrian smiled and answered, "Try me…"

"Well," Ekou admitted, "I'd like to be a submarine captain. I think submarines are cool and I could command a crew! It beats needlepoint and girly stuff!"

To her surprise, Adrian smiled, looking at her appraisingly. "You could do it, Ekou. You know how to push people around."

"HEY!" the girl shouted indignantly, but laughed as well. "What about you, Adrian? What do you want to do with your life?"

"Well, I think I'd like to be… a super spy. I could find out what people are doing and stop them from doing it if it's bad. I could have adventures and maybe you could help me do it. You could be going around the world on your sub and I could be on a mission and you could give me information. Think we could do it, the outcast Gecko kids?" he asked, smiling.

Ekou smiled back. "Let's do it! Our baby brother can help us when he's big enough. He'll love us equally, even if Mom and Dad don't. Let's pinky swear on it, bro!"

"Got it, sis!" The two kids promised that day that they would follow their dreams and make their little brother part of their circle somehow, despite how their parents treated them. How their dreams would be realized, these lost souls had no idea. But all they knew that day was that they would realize their dreams.

_It's no wonder to me that Adrian would fall to Yubel's lies. I am adopted, myself, and I was raised to believe that being adopted makes you special. To see a boy like Adrian rejected simply because he wasn't a blood child makes me mad. And no child should be treated unequally because she's not the right gender like Ekou was treated. As I said earlier, I feel that these two are tragic figures. Their parents __did not truly love them. __Read and review, if you would…_


	18. The Ties that Bind

The Ties That Bind: The Family

_Hello again, GX fans! This story set has been my most reviewed and it's been an honor to have so many of you enjoying it. I got my first mixed review of this story __set on Saturday__ morning, and that's just fine! It's okay to criticize someone's work if you do it in reasonable terms, so before the rest of you go looking for Sandstorm Koitsu, you don't have to. I think there were some reasonable criticisms on Sandstorm's part and I think that's part of what makes us grow as writers. No work is perfect, and I'll admit "Karaoke Night" was a bit random in the gra__nd scheme of the story. __While I might disagree with Sandstorm, Sandstorm didn't resort to cussing me out and such reasonable criticism is something we all need to learn to listen to__, even if we disagree__So, thanks to Sandstorm, syrusfanatic12, lunarlight20, The __Coffee Gladiator__, TFRiD Queen and Arisu Tsuranu for the reviews!_

_All good things must come to an end, everyone! The __Sibling Series has been fun and rewarding to write, but I think this is truly the last chapter! To all of you who have reviewed and kept track, thank you! I'm glad you've all liked this and felt a bond to it. Our families are what make us who we are, and for good or bad, that's the way it is. Remember to love your family and those friends who are like family._

_Note: This one-shot takes place a few years after the events of GX. __Some spoilers will be given, particularly in regard to Zane's fate. Thanks to the Internet, most of us know what'__s going to__ happen to him. As for __one pairing, this has not precisely been established, so some of you will like it__ and some of you won't. __As usual, I don't own GX!_

Time and distance can be an enemy of close bonds. People can drift apart when they're separated and they can forget just how close they were when they were together. If they're separated for years, people can really drift apart. It happens to the closest of friends and family and sometimes it just can't be helped.

However, for a group of people that had formed their bonds through dueling and situations that would make many brave men and women run in fear, their bonds were as strong as ever. It had been a few years since Jaden Yuki had graduated from Duel Academy and he and his friends had gone on to duel in the Pro League or expand their educations beyond Duel Academy. But in those years and even through some separations, their friendships had somehow gotten stronger.

On this day, Jaden Yuki, the newly-declared King of Games, climbed out of a helicopter onto the Duel Academy helipad. He was dressed in blue jeans and a red sweatshirt and had the same smile he'd had years ago when he'd started at Duel Academy. The school hadn't changed much since he'd left though more students had started to attend the school and all the dorms had gotten upgrades. Jaden shook himself out of his reverie quickly and helped his wife of one year out of the copter. "What do you think, Lex?"

Alexis Rhodes Yuki took her husband's hand and stepped onto the helipad. She no longer wore the miniskirt and ankle boots she'd worn the day that she'd first seen Jaden Yuki and had worn her entire time at Duel Academy. Today, she was wearing a pretty blue sweater and a pair of stretch jeans, as well as some blue sneakers. Her hair was the same pretty blonde shade it had been and her brown eyes were as sparkly as they'd been when she first found herself liking the "Slifer Slacker," but instead of the flat belly she'd once had, she now had a little bulge. She was four months pregnant with her and Jaden's first child. "Not too much changes around here," she observed, smiling. "Shall we?" He nodded, and they began to walk to the main academy building.

It didn't take too long to get to the main building and as they approached, Jaden and Alexis could see their friends laughing inside the doors. And then Syrus Truesdale opened a door and came out to his surrogate brother and sister-in-law. "Hey, guys, you made it," he said happily. Syrus hadn't changed all that much since his days at Duel Academy. He had gained a few inches of height and wore different clothes (today it was a pair of dark pants and a navy blue sweater, along with black boots), but he still had the same fluffy blue hair, spectacles and cute face that had made a lot of Duel Academy girls want to hug him like a stuffed toy. "How are you feeling, Alexis?"

"Better," she said, smiling. "The morning sickness finally wore off a couple of days ago. I flew on the helicopter today without feeling queasy. How are you doing, Sy?" Syrus looked down at his feet for a minute. Even though they'd seen each other last week, it had been a few days before the anniversary of Zane's death. Though he loved Jaden, he still missed his brother by blood terribly, and he always got a bit down around that time.

"I still miss him, you know? And I wish… but it's not going to happen," he said softly, then felt the brother of his heart put an arm around him.

"It's all right to be sad, Sy. You're never going to stop missing him. He was your bro," Jaden said gently. And Alexis hugged him, too.

"Thanks, guys. Man, I was worried you two were going to miss the party. Everybody's here!" Sy said with a change of mood. The three walked to the door and Syrus held it open for the Yukis.

"Howdy, Sarge! Private Lexi!" greeted Tyranno Hasselberry, giving them both hugs, being very careful not to hug the expectant mother too hard. The tall, tanned dinosaur duelist hadn't really changed in the past few years, except now he wore, not the uniform of Ra Yellow, but an archaeologist's khaki outfit. He had wanted to enlist in the Army, but due to his dinosaur DNA and his left leg, he hadn't passed the physical. He'd been unhappy, but found solace in his second love…paleontology. "Congratulations! Can I get a yee-haw for the daddy and mommy-to-be?" he asked the group, and they obliged, cheering. Atticus Rhodes, of course, came up right after the cheering was done and gave his sister and brother-in-law a huge hug.

This day was a celebration of family and friends and of seeing what the years had brought to the family. Atticus had done well in the Pro League, but the brown-eyed brown-haired free spirit chose a bi-layered path for the rest of his life. With a little training, Atticus went on to have a music career as well as a pro-surfing career. He'd dated some, but the elder Rhodes boy had yet to find his true love. He'd been thrilled when Jaden had finally gotten up the courage to date Alexis and had even helped with Jaden's proposal. Now, he stood in front of the group, singing a song he'd composed for the reunion party.

Chazz Princeton, meanwhile, had found his way in the world. After he graduated from Duel Academy, Chazz had gone into the Pro League and he'd kept up a reasonable rivalry with Jaden Yuki, though like Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto before them, it seemed that Jaden would be the constant victor. And like their predecessors, Jaden and Chazz had managed to become friends. Chazz, accepting (finally) that Alexis had chosen Jaden, started dating. As of yet, he still hadn't found the right girl, but he would, eventually. Chazz had also become an employee at Kaiba Corp working with the CEO to improve dueling systems. "Hey, Slacker," he greeted Jaden in the way he'd become accustomed. "How is everything? Not that I care, of course."

"Oh, everything's going well, pal. Lex and I are planning the nursery. Cuddly Duel Monsters, mostly. We're thinking of putting the Ojama brothers in somewhere."

"Oh, really?" Chazz asked stiffly. "Well, then I guess you'll need this, you two." He handed the Yukis a yellow box tied with white satin ribbon. "My boss and his wife helped me with this…"

Curious, the couple opened the box. Inside were five plush replicas of Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, Ojama Black and the Ojama grandparents. "Oh, Chazz, they're adorable!" Alexis said, standing up to give him a hug. "Thank you!" The dark-haired boy, who still found Alexis attractive but regarded her as more of a friend now, returned the hug, and even grudgingly accepted the hug Jaden enthusiastically gave him.

"Thanks, man," Jaden said.

"Thank the Kaibas, too, Slacker; they pulled the strings."

"We'll drop them a line," Jaden answered, smiling. "Thanks, Chazz." And Jaden saw the shadow of a smile grace his rival's expression.

Bastian Misawa made it to the party, which was something of a miracle. He had been working hard at the Eisenstein Foundation, so he didn't take a lot of time off. Today, however, he'd managed to pull his head out of computers and the theory of unified dueling to attend this party. Bastian was seriously dating the redheaded Jasmine Fairbanks, one of Alexis's former roommates. Jasmine couldn't make it to the party, as she also now worked at the Eisenstein Foundation, but she'd sent a note and gift with Bastian. The young man gave the couple his gift and Jasmine's, which the couple adored.

Axel Brody had joined the US Army's Special Forces, but due to security, he couldn't say what he was doing. He also was dating seriously, and hoped the young woman would one day become his wife. Jim Cook still had Shirley with him and was becoming a world-renowned naturalist like his hero, Steve Irwin. He was married to his work, but he did hope to find someone someday. Jesse Anderson continued to duel with his Crystal Beast family, but was glad to be with his human family.

To Jaden and Alexis's surprise, Sartorius and Serena had made it to the party as well. "Jaden, may I read your future?" the man with striped hair asked curiously as his sister looked on.

"Could you do it in a little bit, Sartorius? I'm glad you want to, but I want to say something to…everyone in the family…" Jaden looked serious when he said it, and Sartorius nodded.

Finally, everyone was sitting down on comfortable chairs in the room. Jaden smiled to see Chancellor Shepherd, Dorothy and Dr. Crowler sitting there as well.

"Man, this is a great reunion," the young man began. "I'm glad you guys are all here. It's sweet to see everybody around here and when the little Yuki is born, we'll need all of you. I suck at speeches, but…I've got to say something today. When I came to Duel Academy years ago, I didn't realize that I'd get as close to you as I got. And I realized when I came into this room that though we haven't been together for a while, nothing's changed between us. There are a few people who should be here, but aren't. Let's take a moment of silence for Professor Banner, Zane, Adrian and Ekou. They were part of the family…" Everyone bowed their heads respectfully for those lost.

"Thanks, everybody," the new King of Games continued. "What I wanted to say was… we started at Duel Academy as kids or teachers or students from other schools trying to make some friends. I think through all our stuff together…our nights in the dorms making grilled cheese sandwiches…dueling nutcases… saving the world from those dueling nutcases… we became more than that. You guys saved me, too. Those are the ties that bind." For Jaden, that was an unusual yet very honest speech.

"Hear, hear!" Bastian said, raising his glass of punch. Everyone followed suit. "To the family!" the Brit said, and everyone echoed that toast.

"Well, Sartorius?" Jaden looked at the fortune-telling duelist expectantly. Sartorius shuffled his Tarot deck, then laid down three cards. He flipped them over, and then smiled.

"Brother?" Serena asked. "What do you see?"

"The ties that bind us…the bond of family… it will last forever…"

**THE END**

_I hope you have all enjoyed The Sibling Series. It's been fun to write, and I hope you liked the ending! I don't know if Adrian and Ekou survived… if they didn't, I hope their parents felt immensely guilty… So if they did survive, I'd like to know. Thanks, everybody! Read and review!_


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